Asian Studies

This course examines poetry and literature from the Tang dynasty to Song dynasty in classical Chinese. Students analyze line by line of the poetry written by famous Chinese scholars. These literati express their feelings, emotions, attachment, relationship with the garden they own in these poetry. The poetries are specifically on garden poetry---which is poetry written about gardens and the emotion of literati. The course is taught all in Chinese with readings in classical Chinese.

This course calls attention to the fundamental importance of thinking not only in learning per se but also in shaping who we are. It examines the nature of thinking, as well as its mechanisms. It aims to help students experience the excitement of thinking as they try to understand what thinking is; students are thus compelled to critique and re-examine their own assumptions about what they think they know and about themselves as psychosomatic learners and persons.

The course examines Seoul, deploying a palimpsest as a heuristic device, exploring the layering of buildings and paved roads and bridges, as well as the history of those who lived in the different urban spaces over time. Through accretion, these layers create both a complex and vibrant story that remains only visible in a contemporary form where the old still bleeds through the layers of traces that partially remain. Particular attention is given to a wide variety of digitally mediated narrative practices (e.g., Naver blogging, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) and the institutions that control these technologies. The course looks at the many facets of this diverse and dispersed digital ecosphere where just about anyone with access to a computer or mobile device can integrate digital images, social media, recorded audio narration, video clips, and music alongside a range of delivery channels with meta-information (e.g., hashtags, rankings, and comments by users) to reach a broad audience. This course illustrates how such sites are layered with many significations and complicated histories. It intends to offer a more compelling narrative of Seoul, not merely as a “republic of apartments,” but a place of crucial bearers of cultural memories and a vast archive of stories of a given group’s past.

This is an introductory and interdisciplinary survey course on modern Korean history. The course is designed to present a wide ranging written and visual materials and texts on the topic, with the goal of introducing students to various experiences, phases, and issues of modern Korean history. Our goal as a class is to both familiarize ourselves with the larger historical events that shaped the last century for Korea and its people, and to come to our individual, critical understanding of their significance and relevance for today.

Korean popular culture has recently gained critical attention in the global media marketplace. Particularly, Hallyu (the Korean Wave), a term coined in Asia describing the widespread popularity of Korean cultural products and its regional and trans-regional influences, has been prominently addressed by the scholars, the critics, and the fans altogether in many parts of Asia and beyond. Through readings, discussions, in-class screenings, and presentations, this course provides a comprehensive view of contemporary Korean culture, society, and politics through examining some of the most representative forms of popular culture. Specific topics include the Korean family; marriage, weddings, foreign brides, and multiculturalism; plastic surgery and eating disorders; education; Korean film and TV; and globalization. 

This course looks at constructions of gender in modern Japanese literature by both female and male authors. Readings cover some of the major authors, genres, and literary movements of modern Japanese literature, as well as secondary readings in gender theory.

This class offers lectures and presentations on Korean history and culture for foreign students without a Korean educational background. The first half of the course emphasizes modern Korean culture and how it relates to Korean identity and “Korean-ness.” The second half covers major periods in Korean history in chronological order, giving emphasis to specific events and incidents as necessary.

The course provides an overview of Japanese civilization from ancient to modern times, delving into the eras of the Samurai, Shogun, Tenno, Kamikuni.